Hey, are you 100% sure that if you died today that you'd go to heaven?
Are you sure that you're saved?
You know, the Bible actually teaches that you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
you have salvation.
It's not something you have to doubt, or wonder, or hope for.
The Bible actually teaches you can know without question that you are saved.
1 John 5.13 states, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name
of the Son of God."
So you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved, and it's all based upon
what God says in His Word.
Now obviously there's a lot of religions out there, and even within the realm of Christianity
that'll teach you, "Well, you have to repent of your sins to be saved, you have to do good
works, you have to keep God's commandments, go to church, get baptized, be obedient to
His Word."
The list goes on and on and on.
But the truth of the matter is, the Bible doesn't teach you have to do any of those
things for salvation.
There's only one thing you have to do, and in fact there's only one thing you have to
believe, and it's actually quite simple.
But there's a couple things you have to understand.
Number one is the fact that we are all sinners.
The Bible says in Romans 3 10 as it is written, "There's none righteous, no not one."
The word righteous can be defined as someone who is perfect and sinless, someone who does
right all the time.
And I think you would agree with the fact that there's no one in this world who's perfect.
We're all sinners.
We all make mistakes.
We all fall short.
And in fact the Bible specifically says in Romans 3 23, "For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God."
The Bible even goes on to say in Isaiah 64 verse 5 that we are all as an unclean thing
in our righteousness or as filthy rags.
Essentially communicating that there's no amount of obedience to God's word.
There is no work that we can do.
There's no amount of sins that we can repent from that would ever cause us to merit or
deserve eternal life because we're all sinners.
The second thing that God wants you to understand is that there's a penalty for our sin.
Romans 6 23 says, "For the wages of sin is death."
The word "wage" means to earn, to deserve, or to merit something.
And according to the Bible, what we deserve because of our sin is death.
We obviously know that we're going to physically die one day, but what the Bible's referring
to there is actually hell.
So according to the Bible, if you were to die today, you would go to hell to pay for
your sins eternally.
The Bible also says in Revelation 21 verse 8, "But the fearful and unbelieving and the
abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death."
Now, this obviously is not an exhaustive list of sins that will take you to hell.
It's simply there to teach us that there is no exception to the rule.
Everyone deserves this condemnation.
Everyone deserves the penalty of hell for their sins.
Now, the good news is that God loves you.
The Bible says in Romans 5, 8, "But God commendeth His love toward us, and that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Two thousand years ago, God the Father sent the Son Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh,
to this world.
He was born of a virgin.
The Bible says that He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin, essentially
showing us that Jesus Christ is not only sinless, He's not only perfect, but He also possesses
the righteousness that we are absent of.
He also performed a lot of miracles.
He healed the deaf, the blind, the main, and He preached the Word of God, which ultimately
caused the religious leaders of that day to deliver Him up to the Romans to be crucified
on a cross.
The crucifixion was a Roman custom to execute criminals, which we know Jesus Christ was
not.
But He allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross in order to pay for the sins of the
whole world.
And the Bible says that He Himself bore our own sins on His own body on the tree.
What that means is that every single sin that you've committed in the past and every single
sin that you will do in the future, He paid for all of those in full with His blood.
The Bible states that when He died, His soul was made an offering for sin.
But His soul was not left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption.
And on the third day, He resurrected from the grave.
So according to the Bible, Jesus Christ died, was buried, and resurrected to save us.
Now the question remains, then what must we do to be saved?
Well, the Bible goes on to say in Romans 6.23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
So according to the Bible, salvation is a gift, which means that it can't be earned.
It only comes through Jesus Christ.
It doesn't come through your good works, it doesn't come through your obedience to
God's Word, it doesn't come through your walk with God, it comes through Jesus Christ.
More specifically, you obtain it by believing on Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation.
And in fact, in Acts chapter 16 and verse number 30, the Philippian jailer asked the
Apostle Paul what must he do to be saved, and the Apostle Paul responded by saying,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house."
According to the Bible, all we have to do to have eternal life is believe on Jesus Christ
plus nothing, minus nothing.
Which means that you have to trust that His death, burial, and resurrection is sufficient
to save you.
It's to teach that Jesus Christ is all you need for salvation.
This teaching is consistent throughout the Bible.
In fact, the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3, 16 that states, "For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life."
Verse 36 states, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him."
John 1, 12 states, "But as many as receive Him, to them give you power to become the
sons of God, even unto them that believe on His name."
Again, the Bible explicitly teaches us that all we have to do is place our faith in Jesus
Christ for our salvation, plus nothing, minus nothing.
Ephesians 2 verse 8-9 says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that, not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
Again, emphasizing the fact that it's not of ourselves, it's not by what we do or what
sins we turn from or how obedient we are to God's command.
It is solely by our faith in Jesus Christ and it's not of works.
Now, not only that, but the Bible also teaches that once we're saved, there's nothing we
can do to lose our salvation.
In other words, once we're saved, we're always saved.
The proof of that is through Jesus Christ in John 10 28 states, "I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
He also states in John 6 37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
He also states in John 11 26, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."
Believest thou this?
When it comes to believing on Jesus Christ for salvation, it carries with it finality,
that nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Now here's the last thing.
Romans 10 verse 9 states, "That if thou shalt confess with thine mouth the Lord Jesus,
and believe in thine heart that God hath raised them from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation."
Verse 13 states, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
According to the Bible, if you believe everything that I showed you from the word of God, then
the Bible commands you to call upon the name of the Lord in faith for salvation.
And I'd like to pray with you so you can tell God what you already believe in your heart
and to ask Him to save you at this moment.
Go ahead and close your eyes and bow your head and repeat after me, "Dear God, I believe
I'm a sinner.
I believe I deserve hell.
But I believe that Jesus Christ paid for my sins on the cross and resurrected on the third
day to save me.
I place my faith in Jesus Christ alone today and I ask you to save me.
Thank you for the gift of eternal life.
Amen.
Well, according to the Bible, if you believe these things and you've called upon the name
of the Lord, you have salvation.
You have the gift of eternal life.
If you have any questions or if you still have any doubts, go ahead and contact us at
fwbcla1@gmail.com and we'll make sure we get back to you with a response.
Thank you and God bless you.
Have a great day.